and for the democrats, well, obama may have been rusty in the debate. he wasn't hurt too badly. we'll see how it plays out. but i think this was a strong night for mitt romney. we have three more debates to go. one with the vice-presidential candidates. two at the top of the ticket. and if you can keep this going, he may do himself some good. >> carl, you've been watching in trade. we saw an move in up in trade, the betting on obama versus romney. it actually -- >> about 9% down on the president. >> and up to 26% on governor romney. actually, larry kudlow with us as well. >> maria? >> yes, john? >> i want to say, i think you were right about the president being on the defensive. one of the things that came out of the two conventions is that the democrats, bill clinton helped president obama in this, shifted this from a referendum election on president obama's performance to a choice election. i think this -- the effect was to pull it back to a referendum election and put president obama on the defensive. he's the one with the record. and the american public is not in a great moo